To begin creating your writing platform you will need a foundation just like for a building. The foundation for an author platform is a domain. But what is a domain? How do you get a domain? Why is it so important? Let’s take these questions in order and then discuss aspects of designing your platform to suit your needs.
Without getting too technical, a domain is a name reserved for you on the internet. As the owner of the domain you have administrative control to maintain what will become your site. Registering a domain is usually done on a yearly basis and costs a small fee. You choose the name based on availability.
How you get a domain is a different matter altogether. Many hosting services offer to register the name you choose as part of your hosting plan. For instance, my site is hosted on WordPress.com and when I signed up for my free site, I chose to pay $10 to have WordPress register my domain name. There are just a few services that actually handle the business of registration and maintenance of the internet’s domain database so allowing your hosting service to register for you simplifies the process and allows you to get started sooner with working on your site. However, it may take a few days for your domain to be available across the internet.
So how should you go about obtaining a domain and deciding what to name it? Since there are so many different hosing services available on the internet you should shop around and decide what best suits you. For me, I didn’t want to commit to a long-term contract with hundreds of dollars in expense (or evening a sizable monthly expense otherwise) without having writing income. At the moment, I have some income and it pays for another needs so I chose to go with WordPress.com as a free site (registration is separate). I can at a later time, upgrade my site on WordPress or move it to an independent hosting service. This decision left me the flexibility to grow when I need to do so without a lot of stress to produce income before I was ready.
So there you have it, a short discussion on the details of a domain. I hope you have a better understanding of what you should do to acquire one, name it and how to choose a service based on your budget. If you are just beginning, do your research in depth, shop around and proceed with a plan.
Clip art licensed through Microsoft Office. “You Are Here” photo courtesy Morguefile.com free photo section (pippalou is the photographer). Book cover licensed on commission from Christopher Rawlins.
Interesting. I took the plunge and looked into getting my domain. Surprise, my name is already taken…by some motivational speaker no less. Of course I could go to a .net instead of a .com, but how does this play out? I know that a good majority of people will always throw a .com after the name regardless of what the actual dot thingy is. I would NOT be a good motivational speaker.
I guess I’ll either have to come up with a different name or hope that his motivational skills are as bad as mine and he gives my name up in a year.
Thanks for visiting and commenting today, Ed. You might include author as part of the domain name. I know some people do this with their Twitter accounts, etc. Just make every effort to be as different as possible. You also might use something like publications as part of the domain name just so it’s professional and identifies you clearly and separately from anyone else.